Conveying tourists downtown by horse will get a little more expensive for carriage operators under a plan put forward by Mayor Rahm Emanuel today that also would change the rules dictating the temperatures at which the horses can work.

The fee for a driver to get a license to operate a familiar traffic-clogging horse-drawn carriage would be $25 annually under the mayor's plan, rather than a one-time fee. And instead of charging a carriage owner $10 to replace a damaged plate or decal that each carriage is required to display, the city would charge $50 for a replacement plate and $25 for a replacement decal.

Currently, horses are required to pack it in for the day when the temperature hits 90 degrees or falls to 15 degrees or below at O'Hare airport, or the wind-chill factor is zero degrees or less at O'Hare. Emanuel wants to change the location of the temperature gauge to Northerly Island, closer to the downtown shopping areas where most of the carriages pick up rides.

The mayor's plan must go to a City Council committee for consideration.

The runner-up to Ald. Deb Mell in the Feb. 24 election filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging widespread problems with voting in the Northwest Side 33rd Ward aldermanic race as he tries to force her into a head-to-head runoff five weeks from now.

The Chicago Cubs on Tuesday sought City Hall permission to expand construction hours at Wrigley Field, with bleacher work falling well behind schedule on the team's $375 million ballpark renovation project.

SPRINGFIELD -- Senate lawmakers introduced a plan Tuesday that would give Gov. Bruce Rauner the power to sweep nearly $580 million from special funds as he seeks to plug a budget hole that threatens child care services and prison workers' paychecks.

Under the increased scrutiny and pressure of a one-on-one campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on Monday dropped his monthslong opposition to allowing a Barack Obama presidential library to be built on city parkland.

Rep. Aaron Schock billed taxpayers at least three times for a total of more than $14,000 in private air travel last fall, including for a trip to a Chicago Bears football game, The Associated Press has learned.

Illinois hunters and outdoors enthusiasts see Gov. Bruce Rauner as a potential new ally in Springfield as they eye legislation this session that includes measures to ban the use of drones to track wildlife, allow silencers at gun ranges, expand coyote hunting to crossbows and resurrect a bobcat...

After forcing Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election to keep his job, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia is framing the head-to-head showdown as part of an ideological fight for the soul of the Democratic Party.